Art of Supply

"There are a lot of different ways to hold all of the conspirators who are involved in the effort to intentionally smuggle counterfeit goods into the U.S. and into U.S. systems accountable." 
Most modern supply chains are complex, sprawling beasts. Their global scale is highly strategic, but it also creates opportunities for criminal organizations to threaten companies, the Federal government, warfighters, and first responders. 
The Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit (GSCIU) was created as the result of a 2022 Congressional request for Homeland Security Investigations to address concerns about the risk of counterfeit components finding their way into U.S. military supply chains. Since then, they have operated as a task force, analyzing interagency information to identify and combat threats to relevant supply chains.
Brian Andersen is a supervisory special agent at Homeland Security Investigations Global Trade Division, part of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, and the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit, which he had the opportunity to help build from the ground up.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Brian and Kelly Barner discuss:
The priorities of the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit
How they partner with other agencies and private businesses to root out risk within the supply chain and hold criminals accountable
What procurement and supply chain professionals should be on the lookout for as warning signs that they have acquired or encountered counterfeit products 
Links:
Brian Andersen on LinkedIn
National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
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How could a company worth about $3 Million wipe out more than $17 Billion in transportation market value in a single day?
On February 12th, a press release from Algorhythm Holdings, a company that started its life as a karaoke machine manufacturer, announced that its AI-enabled freight platform SemiCab could reduce empty truck miles by more than 70 percent.
By midday, major logistics firms were down as much as 20 percent. C.H. Robinson, Landstar, J.B. Hunt, railroads, and airlines all felt the shockwave.
If SemiCab's technology works as described, it could reduce waste, lower emissions, and save shippers billions. At the same time, it could compress margins, erode pricing power, and expose just how much excess capacity the freight market really has.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:
The sequence of events: how a small-cap AI announcement triggered a historic sell-off
The claims behind SemiCab, and how Algorhythm evolved from karaoke to freight tech
Why reducing empty or "deadhead" miles (which sounds like unqualified good news) could actually hurt incumbent logistics firms
Links:
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
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"Shipping in 2026 is going to get darker." - Michelle Wiese Bockmann, Senior Maritime Intelligence Analyst, Windward 
Right now, somewhere between 900 and 2,000 aging oil tankers are operating in the shadows.
They are carrying sanctioned crude from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. This so-called "shadow fleet" often sails under false flags, spoofs its locations, turns off monitoring systems, transfers their cargo at sea, and sometimes operates without insurance.
These dangerous vessels are increasingly being boarded, seized, escorted into port, and tied up in court, but enforcement at sea is messy, expensive, and legally complex. 
One company… GMS… thinks they have an answer. They believe they can scrap about 100 of these seized, sanctioned ships annually - if (and it is a big IF) they are given permission by the U.S. Treasury to acquire them.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner explores three interconnected questions:
What is actually being done to get shadow fleet tankers off the water?
What happens to the ships — and the oil, and the crew — after they are seized?
And what are the second- and third-order effects for global shipping markets, risk, and supply chains?
Links:
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
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"Capacity reduction is clearly under way. Regulatory enforcement of qualifications and safety standards was arguably the most welcome development in 2025 for our industry." - Adam Miller, CEO of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings
The trucking industry has been flooded with headlines about enforcement: English language proficiency checks, non-domiciled CDL restrictions, immigration raids, and court stays.
On the surface, this might look like a political story or an emotional response to a few high-profile fatal crashes, but it is not primarily about either paperwork or politics.
It's about freight market capacity. Who is allowed to operate? Where are they willing to operate? Can they operate profitably while following the rules? And how quickly can excess freight capacity be removed without destabilizing the whole system?
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:
Why CDL enforcement has become a de facto freight capacity lever
What the data says about drivers and smaller freight companies leaving the market
How localized disruption is starting to show up before national trends
And what we should be watching instead of (or at least in addition to) the headlines
Links:
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
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Imagine a single railroad company that could move freight seamlessly from the ports of Los Angeles to the ports of New York without handoffs, interchange delays, or needing to switch carriers mid-journey.
That's the promise behind the proposed merger between the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads. If the deal is approved, it will create the first single-line transcontinental railroad in U.S. history, spanning more than 50,000 miles across 43 states and nearly 100 ports.
Supporters say this could make rail a more serious competitor to long-haul trucking, lowering costs and improving supply chain efficiency. Critics say it risks concentrating too much power in too few hands in an industry where four railroads already control more than 90% of U.S. freight.
Earlier this month, regulators hit the reset button. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) rejected the merger application - not on its merits, but because the paperwork was incomplete.
In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner covers:
What Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are proposing, and why it would be historically significant
The arguments for the merger, including efficiency, cost, and competition with trucking
The arguments against it, from labor, shippers, competitors, and policy advocates
Where the Surface Transportation Board fits in, and what the January 2026 rejection means from an approval and timeline standpoint
Links:
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
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